Meeting The Twittering Farmer

Chuck Zimmerman

He’s known as The Twittering Farmer. He’s @Tykerman1 or rather Steve Tucker. You know someone on Twitter by their handle and sometimes it gets difficult to call them by their real name!

I “met” Steve via Twitter and enjoyed how he handled himself on a CNN interview and them talked with him myself. That was over two years ago. But I had not met Steve until the AgChat Foundation’s Agvocacy 2.0 Conference. So I visited with Steve to see what he thinks about the development of “agvocacy.” In the pic I’m sure Steve is busy cranking out a tweet. You can see what happened if you check out the conference hashtag – #ACFC11.

You can listen to my interview with Steve here: Interview with @Tykerman1

2011 AgChat Agvocacy 2.0 Conference Photo Album

AgChat Agvocacy 2.0 coverage is sponsored by The New Holland Boomer 555 Contest.
Audio, Social Networking

Difference Between Herbicide Tolerance and Resistance

Cindy Zimmerman

weeds mare's tailThe problem of resistant weeds, especially glyphosate-resistant broadleaf weeds, continues to become more worrisome, but some weeds have always had a tolerance for certain weed killers.

BASF Herbicide Technical Market Manager Dr. Dan Westberg says there’s is a difference between resistant weeds and tolerant weeds. “Tolerant weeds are ones that a herbicide never really controlled in the first place,” Dan explains. “If you look as species like wild buckwheat, morning glory, day flower – those types of weeds were never really controlled very effectively with glyphosate.”

BASF at AMS11Resistance is different because it develops over time. “With resistant weeds, you’ve gone from getting essentially total control of a population to selecting a biotype, or individual weed that has the ability to tolerate that herbicide,” and Dan says those resistant biotype populations can then expand and dominate in a field.

Dan notes says there are several mechanisms within a plant that can lead to resistance. Listen to him explain here: Dan Westberg on weed resistance

Dan recommends that growers use a combination of chemical, cultural and mechanical strategies to lower the risk of developing resistance and tailor their weed management approach to the weed populations that exist in particular fields. Dan Westberg on lowering risk

He encourages growers if they see escapes not attributable to sprayer skip or a mixing problem to work with a local extension agent or university weed scientist to collect seed from the weed and have it tested for resistance.

Audio, BASF

John Deere R Series Tractors Overview

Chuck Zimmerman

In the big John Deere product launch this week there were a lot of tractors to look at. I visited with Brad Tolbert and Jarrod McGinnis about what new features are being offered on the lineup of 6/7/8/9 R Series models. Pictured is a 9510 R tractor on the demo track.

According to Brad, John Deere has increased the cab size on the 6R Series by twenty percent and upped the hydraulics capacity and are offering new loaders to make it a very versatile tractor. He says the company will start building them in January.

Jarrod says the 7R Series is a totally new tractor. They started with a blank slate and built it according to what customers were asking for. For example, the new cab is basically what you only saw on an 8R Series tractors previously. The cabs on the 7/8/9 Series are now the same which makes things easier for operators who have to get in and out of different models.

You can listen to my interview with Brad and Jarrod as they review other features, including horsepower here: Overview of New John Deere Tractors

2011 John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

Audio, John Deere, Tractor

New S Series Combines From John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman

The big stars of the John Deere product launch this week were the new S Series Combines. We had a fleet of them set up as stationary “displays.” As part of our media preview we all got into a cab and Deere broadcast a walk through exercise through the in-cab radio. We even had a text book to follow along with. You can see/hear part of that presentation in the video below.

I also spoke with Katie Dierker, Division Marketing Manager, John Deere Harvesting Works. Katie says that almost half of the combine has changed from old to new touching every functional area. That’s due to customer feedback for added productivity. She says they’ve also focused on the front end of the machine with new front end equipment that includes an updated line of 600 Series corn heads. Some major changes were made in the premium cabs to make it more a “home away from home” for producers that include more visibility and even a small refrigerator.

You can listen to my interview with Katie here: Interview with Katie Dierker

One of our field presenters was Allan Wiens, Solutions Specialist from Canada. Allan says they have a brand new 600FD HydraFlex™ Draper, which is available in 35- and 40-foot models.

You can listen to my interview with Allan here: Interview with Allan Wiens
Available for the 2012 harvest season, the S-Series Combines include five models: S550, S660, S670, S680 and S690, which is an all-new Class 9 machine. The S-Series Combines are ideal for producers and agricultural service providers who demand a combine that provides exceptional harvest power, grain-handling performance and field productivity.

2011 John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

Audio, Equipment, John Deere, Video

GROWMARK Reports Record Sales, 2nd Best Year

Cindy Zimmerman

growmark annual meeting 2011GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg had great news for the system’s stakeholders at the Annual Meeting in Chicago Friday.

“Our sales this year are $8.5 billion, which is a record level of sales for us,” Jeff said. “A lot of that is price inflation, we’re a commodity based business, but we also have a lot of volume growth there – higher plant food volumes, higher crop protection volumes, seed volumes are up and our energy volumes are up.”

Jeff says after tax income this fiscal year is $182 million. “That’s our second best year in history and we’re very, very proud of that,” he said. Patronage to members will amount to about $80 million.

That’s value-driven!

Listen to my interview with Jeff Solberg here. GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg

2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting Photos

Audio, GROWMARK

Milk a Cow With Your iPhone

Chuck Zimmerman

Ever milked a cow? Probably most of you have not. Well now there’s an app for that.

In Milk the cow, you have one task… Milk the cow to death!

This is the simplest, most ridiculously funny game of 2009. Great for stress relief and surprisingly addictive!

Simply squeeze the cow’s breasts and see how many buckets of milk you can get in 30 seconds. Complete with high score!

Cow’s breasts? I wonder how many cows the creator of this app has milked.

Apps

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Merck announced the appointment of Richard R. DeLuca Jr. as executive vice president and president, Merck Animal Health, effective Sept. 15, 2011
  • FMC Corporation announced its Agricultural Products Group has entered into two exclusive agreements covering global development and supply of Chr. Hansen biological products for agricultural and ornamental markets.
  • Select Sires Inc. has hired Cami Collingwood as the beef program marketing coordinator.
  • Lessing-Flynn has welcomed Emily Beckmann aboard as its newest Project Manager.
Zimfo Bytes

Honoring Gene Hemphill at Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

This week the Farm Progress Show held a preview day for the media. Our good friend Gene Hemphill sent along a photo.

With Gene in command again this year, New Holland is sponsoring the media tent and our coverage of the show on AgWired. Cindy and I will be arriving on Monday and we’re there for the duration. You should start seeing content from the show by Monday evening. We’re looking forward to seeing many friends and clients. In fact we’ve got a record number of sponsors for our coverage of the show this year for both AgWired and Precision Pays. More on that later.

Getting back to Gene, the FPS took him by “surprise by unveiling a poster recognizing me for my 25 years of service to the Farm Progress Publications for my work with the media. I think there were a few young journalists in the audience that might not have been born then — or a least they looked at me with questioning eyes when I mentioned the 15 typewriters we had at the first media tent. LOL.”

Thanks to Mike Wilson of Illinois Prairie Farmer, a Farm Progress publication, for taking the photo of Gene with FPS Show Manager Matt Jungmann (left) and Don Tourte, Farm Progress director of sales and national events (right).

Farm Progress Show, New Holland

BIVI’s New State of the Art Research Facility

Cindy Zimmerman

bivi sioux center iowaIt may not look like much on the outside, but the new Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) livestock vaccine research facility in Sioux Center, Iowa is everything a pig could want on the inside.

“It’s a state of the art facility,” said Dr. Phil Hayes, BIVI Executive Director for Biologicals Development. “To demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of new vaccines, we must start with pigs that are healthy.”

bivi sioux center iowaTo keep the research pigs healthy, Phil says there is very limited access – which is why the dedication ceremony this week was held at the Ridge Golf Clubhouse down the road. “Shower in, shower out. The researchers who enter the facility gown as if they were entering a surgical operating room,” Phil explains. “The air that enters the facility is sterile-filtered. Anything that could interfere with the health of the pigs is excluded.”

Listen to my interview with Phil Hayes here. Dr. Phil Hayes at BIVI research facility dedication

BIVI Sioux Center Facility Dedication Photos

Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine

GROWMARK Annual Meeting is Value Driven

Cindy Zimmerman

growmark annual meeting 2011The theme of the 2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting is Value Driven and there are over 1,000 stakeholders attending the meeting in Chicago this week.

I spent a few minutes with Dan Kelley, Chairman of the Board and President of GROWMARK, prior to the opening reception Thursday night about what value-driven means to GROWMARK. “The GROWMARK system has historically been recognized for having a high standard of ethics and we carry that into customer responsiveness and being able to satisfy our customers’ needs and hopefully exceed their expectations,” he said.

growmark annual meeting 2011Dan says it has been a very good year for GROWMARK and agriculture in general. “Agriculture has been one of the stellar industries in this economic downturn over the last 2-3 years,” he said. “We have now recorded our best seven years in the history of the GROWMARK system, which is 84 years.”

Dan operates a grain farm in partnership with his two brothers and son, and he says it has been a challenging growing season for the Midwest, so every bushel counts. “I’ve heard yields from almost zero, in the low 40s, to as high as 240,” and that’s just in McLean County, where Dan farms in Normal and where GROWMARK headquarters are located in Bloomington.

Listen to my interview with Dan Kelley here. GROWMARK President Dan Kelley

2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting Photos

Audio, Farming, GROWMARK